Anne Frank's diary, written during the two years the teenager and her family hid from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam, made her a symbol of the suffering of Jews during World War II.

The house has been turned into a museum dedicated to the young girl, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 aged 15.

The suggestion that had she lived today, the teenager would have been a "belieber" - a term used by his devoted fans to describe themselves - generated thousands of horrified responses on social networking websites.

"Way to turn an inspiring moment into something about yourself," read another.

However, museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart defended the young star to the BBC, saying: "He's 19. It's a crazy life he's living, he didn't mean bad… and also it's nice that he made the effort, he didn't have to come."